Black history month page 6
Allison Gabriel Page 8
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Northridge High School • 2901 Northridge Road • Tuscaloosa, Al• 35406
March 8, 2012 • Volume 9 • Issue 6
National Debt $15,410,000,000,000 Population Unemployed 313,101,23123,054,654
Debt Per Citizen
$49,215 What could be bought with the National Debt?
3,824,812,630 Super Bowl tickets
58,000,000
average houses 34,545,482,137 Lady Gaga tickets
Infographic designed and compiled by: Alex Hauser Information from usdebtclock.org and abcnews.com
Government spending, laziness blamed for debt Jane Yu Entertainment Editor
The United States has over $15 trillion of national debt according to usdebtclock.org. The United States started to accumulate national debt for the Revolutionary War. The debt for the war was $75 million, but it was paid off quickly. The amount of debt has increased a great deal since then. Jared Lotfi, junior, said he condemns the government for causing this tremendous debt. “Poor government spending causes the debt,” Lotfi said. “As our debt increases, our credit rating goes down.” He said bailouts and wars are the two big obvious reasons that we have prodigious amount of debt. Scott Johnson, math teacher, said tremendous amounts of debt started when we started to borrow money for entitlement social programs. “Government should not spend money on social programs,” Johnson said. “[We need] self- reliance.” He related debt problems with lazy people who are reluctant to work. “We have 40 million on food stamps, and one fifth of the nation is unemployed,” Johnson said. He said the laziness passes to the current students’ generation. “This generation will be the first generation to be worse off than the generation before,” Johnson said. He said former generations were taught better work ethic, whereas students these days play too much and are exposed too much to social media. Johnson said a link exists between increasing college tuition and the United States tax-system. “Tuition doubles because so many get free rides, not academically or athletically, but socioeconomically,” Johnson said. He said those exemptions decrease the money colleges take in, thus tuition increases. “How many people are getting privilege
by faking their socioeconomic status?” “However, the federal government has borJohnson said. “Our tax system is messed rowed money from that Trust Fund to pay up.” for other programs, and now there is not Johnson said tax is the most direct and enough money left in it to continue paying effective way for government to get mon- what has been promised.” ey. However, he said only 50% of people She said that is why we have to borrow pay federal income tax, not including those huge sums of money from China to meet who are socioeconomically exempt, so less the government our obligations to fund its money is available to the government, and program. people who are taxed are overtaxed. She said she strongly believes that the “We are definitely overtaxed, and gov- federal government has to cut spending ernment should stop spending,” Johnson and eliminate waste and corruption. said. “As painful as it may be, the governHe said he supports the idea of shrinking ment may have to raise taxes,” Beemer the government. said. “Cutting spending is not easy because “Small businessmen have to spend so the public expects a lot from the governmuch to keep their businesses,” Johnson ment.” said. “We have to reduce regulations on She said her outlook for our future is grim business corporations.” if the federal government continues to borHe also said row more money, and tax is not the way the debt continues to Poor government spending to fix the debt but be out of control. causes the debt. As our debt spending is. “Our credit will be increases, our credit rating “One out of four downgraded, again, works for the govand that will cause goes down. ernment,” Johnson the government to said. “We have too owe more in interest many departments on all of those loans,” for government, Beemer said. “That and we spend too increases the debt much money supplying for military. [That further.” is a] bureaucracy.” She said the public will have to be burBarbara Beemer, French teacher, too, dened with heavy taxes, and the federal said she thinks the national debt is caused government could go bankrupt. by the federal government spending more “If we want a preview of that possibilmoney that the government receives in ity, we can watch what is happening in taxes. Greece,” Beemer said. “The federal government has had to Andrew Lattner, senior, said he does not borrow money to cover its expenses,” she think there is that much of a debt problem. said. “Something rarely known is that debt is She said, “If a family spends more mon- actually necessary for the government to ey than it has earned, the family has to function properly,” Lattner said. “The govborrow money to live and to pay the bills. ernment and the world economy are based If that practice continues, the family goes on the sale of treasury bonds, which are bankrupt.” forms of debt.” She said one huge expense for the fedHe also said he thinks the Alabama State eral government is paying Social Security debt could have much more of an impact to retirees. on students than the national debt. “The workers have been putting mon“It will take dozens of years to get close ey into the Social Security Trust Fund to Greece which had excessive debt and throughout their career,” Beemer said. major government cuts,” Lattner said.
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-Jared Lotfi, junior
Parents can now view grades online with I-Now; program still has bugs Information Now (also called I-Now), a grading program used across Alabama, underwent updates in February to include a new feature with which parents can view their children’s grades online. Jackie Hudgins, guidance counselor, said as long as they come to get their I-Now password, there is no reason why parents shouldn’t know how their child is doing in school. “Some students don’t like to take progress reports and reports cards home, and now we can ensure that parents will know what kind of grades their students are making,” she said.
The I-Now program, created by the STI company, was required to be placed in all public schools across the state by the Alabama State Department of Education before the end of the 2011-2012 school year and cost $5.3 million dollars. Though it offers useful features, like online access for parents, various teachers have had issues with the new grading program. Pat Newman, Student Database Manager at the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education, said there were a lot of enrollment problems at the beginning of the year.
“We have also had many reports of teachers not being able to use the grading function of the program. There are sometimes bugs in the system, too, but STI usually fixes them,” she said. Though I-Now has its issues, Newman said there are advantages to the program, such as the fact that it is web-based and operates as one database that is accessible state-wide. Richard Nowell, ceramics teacher, said the I-Now software doesn’t work as well
Graphic by: Alex Hauser
as it could. “I think that they didn’t test it well enough before it was mandated to be in all schools,” he said. Quincy Collins, English teacher, said he doesn’t have any trouble with everyday use of I-Now, but runs into problems sometimes with specific step-bystep tasks. “If I have issues with it, I’ll usually ask another teacher if they know how to fix it, or I can Google it to see if I can find an answer,” he said. Collins said he liked the idea of I-Now, but not its implementation. “The original intent was for teachers to have access to their grades from anywhere, but it seems like
it was just thrown on the teachers without any preparation,” Collins said. Some students have fluctuating or incorrect grades because of the program, like Sarah Cassel, junior. “It has made some of my grade averages higher and lower than they should be, and slows down the grading process because some teachers have to do grades by hand,” Cassel said. Newman said the State Department of Education will likely continue to use I-Now. “As long as the state requires its use, we don’t really have a choice. They’ve put a lot into this program, and I think STI will be able to make it better in the future,” she said.
Teachers, do you like I-Now?
30 25
Number of Teachers
Trent Clanton News Editor
20
15 10 5 Yes
No
Infographic designed by: Alex Hauser Information compiled by: Jah’meka Baxter